1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the field of wearing apparel and accessories. More specifically, the present invention is concerned with displaying images of a person wearing different accessories, like glasses.
2. The Relevant Art
The eyewear industry is a $16 billion a year business. In an attempt to capitalize on the eyewear industry, designers and manufacturers have introduced more fashionable and stylish eyeglass frames. Naturally, many eyeglass wearers are interested in looking attractive as well as staying abreast of the latest fashions and trends. For many eyeglass wearers, vision centers located at malls and department stores provide an ideal mechanism for evaluating the latest styles and fashions. In this environment, consumers may try on a variety of eyeglasses and attempt to determine which eyeglasses are most aesthetically pleasing. Unfortunately, depending on the customers' prescriptions, many must rely on their best-guess, or other people's opinions, on how styles of glasses look on them. In other words, since many people may not see very well without their prescription glasses, they may not see what they look like when trying on the sample “plain glass” glasses. Thus, the customers may not see how they look with their new eyewear until after they have had their prescribed lenses installed and are having the glasses fitted. The customers are now stuck with their best-guess decision or another person's opinion.
One recent survey showed that approximately seventy percent of all customers who come in for glasses also choose new frames. Between twenty-five and fifty percent of the customers do not clearly see their choice of new frames in a mirror. Approximately fifty percent of the same customers relied on another's opinion of how the frames looked to them. Finally, one hundred percent of the eyewear specialists said that it would definitely be helpful if all the customers were able to personally see their choice in eyewear frame/styles clearly.
Similarly, stores are consistently filled with customers trying out the latest styles and fashions. The customers are generally confined to a small dressing room with an inadequate number of mirrors and lights when trying on new clothes. The customers are unable to view how the new apparel looks on their body and must wait until they get home to try the apparel with different mirrors, different lights, different views, and different opinions.
The current state of the art has not resolved those issues and is therefore deficient for the reasons stated above. For example, one system uses a computer, in a home for example, to adjust the size of a product to fit to a predetermined image of a customer. The system then allows a customer to determine which eyeglasses look the best and place an order electronically. In another system, the customer visits a vision center, picks out a particular eyeglass frame, and has a digital photograph taken which is sent by modem over telephone lines directly to another computer located at the opticians office wherein the lens is manufactured to optical specifications and to dimensional specifications dictated by spatial, angular, and dimensional relationships established from the digital photograph.
The first system described above is deficient because the customer does not have the benefit of actually trying on the eyeglasses, rather, the eyeglasses are electronically superimposed. Accordingly, the customer does not get to determine the comfort level, the weight, or the feel of the eyeglasses. In addition, the first system is deficient because the customer must then order the eyeglasses rather than make an instant purchase. The second system is deficient because the customer may not see how the eyeglass frame looks while being worn.
Therefore, what is needed is a system and method to enable a customer to try a variety of eyeglass frames or apparel and, before making a purchase, be able to view, review, and compare images of how the customer looks wearing the various accessories. Beneficially, such a method would provide to the customer a certain level of confidence and satisfaction with the new items before purchasing them. In addition, such a method would benefit the optician, eyeglass frame providers, and store sales by limiting the number of returns due to dissatisfied customers.
Additional features and advantages will become apparent in studying the ensuing drawings and description.